Thread: San Diego: New Mexican consul general gets mixed reception

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REGION: New Mexican consul general gets mixed reception

April 6, 2008

By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

Only three months into the job, Remedios Gomez Arnau, Mexico's consul general in San Diego, has sparked public protests by anti-illegal immigration activists opposed to her office helping Mexican nationals obtain controversial consular identity cards.

In recent weeks, activists held a protest outside her office on India Street in San Diego on March 13 and conducted a demonstration at Palomar College on Feb. 23, where her office was taking applications for its controversial matricula, or consular identity, card.

Gomez, whose previous post was in Atlanta, said that one of her main objectives is to bring her office's services closer to the Mexican immigrant community. She says she also wants to forge stronger business and cultural ties between the two countries.

But as Mexico's primary diplomatic representative in the region, immigration issues are a constant for Gomez, who says she favors level-headed discussion on the subject over protests.

"We want to promote dialogue, we don't want to promote confrontation," she said during a recent interview in her office. "It has to be not only a respectful dialogue, but a dialogue that is based on information backed by academic studies."

Consuls are official representatives of a government posted in the territory of another government. Their duties include assisting citizens of their own country in many bureaucratic issues and facilitating trade and friendship.

'No need'

Jeff Schwilk, leader of the North County-based San Diego Minutemen, was one of the people who called for the protests attended by a handful of people with picket signs. He says that the Mexican government is helping illegal immigrants remain in the country by providing them with the identity cards.

Gomez said the card is nothing more than a diplomatic tool that helps the Mexican government track its nationals in a foreign country and to assist locating them in an emergency.

In recent years, the consulate's issuance of the cards has become embroiled in the national debate over illegal immigration. Though it has been in use for decades, its popularity increased as government agencies tightened restrictions on issuing driver's licenses and other identity cards in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.

In 2002, then-Mexican President Vicente Fox led a campaign for wider recognition of the cards. They have since become widely accepted by banks to open checking accounts, and are recognized by some local law enforcement agencies as a form of identification.

Schwilk and other critics maintain the cards are used by illegal immigrants primarily to help them establish permanent residency in the U.S.

"Matricula cards are only for Mexican citizens in the U.S. illegally," Schwilk wrote in a recent e-mail to the North County Times. "Legal residents have green cards and no need for a matricula ID card."

State Sen. Mark Wyland, R-Carlsbad, said he opposed Palomar allowing its campus to serve as a host site for the consulate office to process matricula card applications.

"I think it's improper for the consul general to use facilities paid for by taxpayers to invite many people, many of whom are illegal, to get those ID cards," Wyland said.

Gomez said her office plans to conduct events similar to the recent one at Palomar in North County. But she said her office will work to find locations less likely to draw protests. Card applicants will be required to set appointments by phone ahead, she said.

"We want to avoid confrontations," Gomez said. "So what we'll have to do is find more adequate places."

Gomez said most Mexicans come to the U.S. seeking work and that more avenues are needed for them to enter legally.

Many duties

Before coming to San Diego, Gomez was Mexico's consul general in Atlanta for seven years. She also worked as an academic researcher, focusing on U.S. foreign policy at the Center for Research on North America, a think tank based at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City.

Gomez has a doctorate in international relations from that university. She has also written extensively about Mexican immigrants in the U.S.

At the consulate, Gomez heads a staff of more than 40 people providing a myriad of services, including processing passports and issuing other government documents. She succeeded Mexican Consul General Luis Cabrera, who is now serving in South Africa.

The staff also provides legal assistance for Mexican nationals, and sometimes are called upon to help identify the bodies of people who died attempting to cross the border illegally.

As the most visible representative of Mexico, the consulate general is often the focus of criticism, some of it coming from other Mexicans.

In 2006, a group of protesters camped out in front of the San Diego office. The protesters were mainly people from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, many of them living in North County, who were calling for the removal of Gov. Ulises Ruiz. They blamed the governor for poverty and political repression in Oaxaca.

One of the people who protested was Jose Gonzalez, a Oaxacan immigrant who is now a U.S. citizen living in Oceanside. He is also a spokesman for Frente Indigena Binacional Oaxaqueno, an advocacy group for Oaxacan immigrants.

Earlier this year, Gonzalez accompanied Gomez on one of her first official visits to North County. She went to interview day laborers, many of whom are indigenous people from Mexico who don't speak Spanish.

Gonzalez said it was the first time he had seen a consul general visit the workers.

"It looks like she has a lot of heart," Gonzalez said. "She gave me a good impression. She saw the problem firsthand."


www.nctimes.com

For all her credentials...she is just a shill for the MExican government intent on keeping illegal alien MExicans from returning to Mexico ....the Mexican government is doing all they can to keep the remittances flowing ...that's the bottom line.

PLEASE, PLEASE... WASN´T HER, LOZANOS´S BOSS??? THE MEXICAN CONSUL WHO CALLED AMERICANS

PENDEJOS!!! JUST INFRONT OF THE MEXICAN CONSULATE???? ON INDIA STREET???

GIVE ME A BREAK!!! WITH THE ACADEMIC STUDIES AND BOLOGNIA...

HERE IS THE VIDEO, POSTED ON YOU TUBE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HSgbeTegko

"We want to avoid confrontations," Gomez said. "So what we'll have to do is find more adequate places."

LIKE MEXICO!!!

Gomez said most Mexicans come to the U.S. seeking work and that more avenues are needed for them to enter legally.

How about HELL NO?!?!?!!! Mexico has overwhelmed its 10% quota. NO more immigrants from mexico, let others have a chance!